The invention relates generally to the manufacture of flocked articles and more particularly to such articles wherein at least a portion of the flocking material is fused together.
It is frequently desirable to secure filaments or strands of flock material to an article or member in order to change its surface characteristics. Such flocked material may, for example, by applied to such an article in order to provide a decorative appearance, reduce the surface friction when the article slidingly engages another article or member, increase the article's wear-resistance or otherwise protect one or more of its surfaces.
One example of such an application of flocked material is a generally channel-shaped elastomeric trim member on the edge of vehicle glass window in which the glass slidably moves as it is raised or lowered. It has been found that conventional techniques for securing the flock material to the trim member have been largely ineffectual in certain applications. Thus, when the flocked material comes off the trim member, the low-friction and wear-resistant properties of the trim member are lost. As a result, the need has arisen for a method of applying flocked material to a substrate member such that the desirable characteristics gained from the application of the flock material are retained in heavy duty or other applictions.
According to the present invention, a substrate material is formed and a plurality of filaments of flock material are secured to one or more surfaces of the substrate material. A thermoplastic coating material is applied to at least the outer portion of the filaments of flock material, and the flock material and coating material are heated to a temperature sufficient to fuse the flock material and coating material together. Preferably, the coating material is applied to the filaments of flock material prior to the application of heat so that the coating material and flock material are fused simultaneously. Alternatively, however, the flock material may be heated to fuse adjacent filaments of the flock material prior to the application of the coating material. In such a case, the coating material and the previously fused filaments are again heated to fuse them together.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.